Let’s chat truth bombs on finding a niche for your online business. The kind that everyone out there trying to be a digital nomad, online entrepreneur or location independent business owner needs to hear.
It doesn’t matter what title you align with, because the advice is all the same.
I get daily messages, comments and the odd email come in from people all over the world asking [generally] the same thing:
I built my business online. It started from Instagram, grew from that to a website and then a Facebook page, and a group, now I’ve taken on Pinterest, and I’ve dabbled with LinkedIn. I’ve written blogs, been on podcasts, spoken at events and been featured or interviewed multiple times. I’ve spent the last year working my butt off after diving head first, going full in and never looking back.
Just about the most important piece of advice that anyone wanting to make money online needs to hear.
But first, it starts with a question: what do YOU want to do to make money online?
I love getting these messages, it makes me so happy to know that people out there in the world are looking up to me and what I’ve done and want my advice. It’s equally humbling as it is motivating. It makes me want to set bigger goals, work smarter (not harder) and share every more with my online community. It makes me want to help other people ditch their shitty boss, a job they’ve fallen out of love with, a position they had to take to make the ends meet or just generally work towards THEIR dream, not someone else’s.
Choose your niche with your heart, not your head.
It’s really that simple.
Decide what you LOVE to do, regardless of the money.
Sit and stew and talk to yourself if you have to.. as long as the thing talking back and answering those questions is your heart. Not your head.
Yes, money is always going to factor in.
We don’t start businesses to be broke, we do it to provide for ourselves, our loved ones and whatever else we want to spend it on, but it shouldn’t be the first thought. Push your head aside and put your heart first and then, after all of that soul searching, after all of that brainstorming and masterminding can you then let your head come into play and sort out the ‘But now what’ side of things.
We’ve all come across the weird online articles or Facebook videos talking about the person that works as a professional cuddle for a living (among a whole other realm of strange jobs.)
The point is, there is a market for EVERYTHING.
This is why the heart comes first, and then head leads later. The heart guides you to find what you love to do, and the head finds a way to market it and find your ideal client.
You don’t think the professional cuddle-buddy said they wanted that job because of the money… although in saying that I have NO idea how much they would make. But the point is that they built a service they loved (heart) and then found their client base and marketed it to the right crowd (head.)
Good question!
What is going to keep you motivated enough to get up every day and find wifi, or skip out on a night out in a new town, or prioritise business investments over nights out? Is it going to be your heart because you love the things you have to do or your head because you feel you have to?
This is when mindset and patterns start to get back into old patterns. When you were working for someone else did you turn up at work because you wanted to? If you did you’re damn lucky, because I’m guessing most are going to answer that with a “No.”
You did it because you had to. You had to go to work because you were rostered on. And you couldn’t call in sick even on days when you needed rest because you had to or you’d get fired. You did these things because you didn’t have a choice. And in business ownership, you want to have that choice.
Trust me, you’ll want to have a night in and read a book about how you can better your business, your finances, your mindset ect. You want to work 12 hour days sometimes so you can take that random day off to go to the beach, your kids’ field trip, your mates’ birthday in the city, or anything else that comes up. It happens, I promise you.
I’ve skipped nights out and parties or even plan I had already made because I was excited about a client call the next day. Because I chose to brainstorm for an upcoming launch or write copy for my website changes or write a blog to share my advice with everyone!
I chose my business with my heart, because I love building online connections for myself and my clients. I love helping them create this amazing online world for their business to share and connect and collaborate with people all over the world. The first few months of me starting this business I was living in a tent (thats a whole other story and blog to come) and living off of savings.
I didn’t know how the money was going to come in or how I was going to find clients when I first decided what I would build Traveller By Trade into, but it didn’t matter. I chose what I wanted to do and then I put my head to work and started to sort out ways to find clients and turn this into a real business.
I’m just over my 1-year mark of business ownership and have had an INSANE time getting here.
Everyday I wake up and love what I do. And when I choose to take a day off its not because I hate my job, its because I need to recharge so I can come back even stronger the next day!
By Chelsea Lynn G (AKA Traveller By Trade)
Thank you so much for following my journey & supporting this project & blog! You can follow along with my personal digital nomad and online entrepreneur journey on;
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